wood, and in a moment she saw him coming
swiftly towards her.

Quietly she moved to meet him.

He began to speak before he reached her. "I was afraid you would be tired
of waiting and wander about till you got frightened and lost yourself. Do
you ever have hysterics?"

"Never," said Anne firmly.

He took his coat and began to wriggle into it, surveying her meantime
with a smile half-speculative, half-rueful.

"Well, that's a weight off my mind, anyway," he remarked at length.
"For I have a staggering piece of news for you which I hardly dare to
impart. Oh, it's no good looking at your watch. It's hopelessly late,
nearly six o'clock, and in any case I can't get you home to-night.
There's no petrol."

"Nap!" Anne's voice was a curious compound of consternation and relief.
Somehow--doubtless it was the effect of thunder in the atmosphere--she
had expected something in the nature of tragedy.

Nap put on his most contrite air. "Do be a brick and take it nicely!" he
pleaded. "I know I was an all-fired fool not to see to it for myself. But
I was called away, and so I had to leave it to those dunderheads at the
garage. I only made the discovery when I left you a couple of hours ago.
There was just enough left to take me to Rodding, so I pelted off at once
to some motorworks I knew of there, only to find the place was empty.
It's a hole of a town. There was some game on, and I couldn't get a
conveyance anywhere. So I just put up the motor and came back across
country on foot. I don't see what else I could have done, do you?"

Anne did not for the moment, but she was considering the situation too
rapidly to answer him.

"My only consolation," he went on, "is that you have got a change of
raiment, which is more than I have. Oh, yes, I had the sense to think of
that contingency. Your bag is at the inn here, waiting for you."

"You had better have taken me back with you to Rodding," Anne said.

"Yes, I know. But I expected to be back in half an hour if all went well.
It's easy to be wise after the event, isn't it? I've thought of that
myself since." Nap picked up a twig and bit it viciously. "Anyway, there
is some tea waiting for us. Shall we go back?"

Anne turned beside him. "Then what do you propose to do?"

He glanced at her. "Nothing before morning, I'm afraid. There is no
vehicle to be had here. I will send someone down to Rodding in the
morning for a conveyance. We can take the train from there to Staps,
wher